Hurray on finding someone you can trust, and double triple congrats on having it all behind you now! Maintenance is sooooooo much easier! (There's a thread on that in the archives, too, but I'm betting you've already seen it, as thorough as you have been on here!)

simonee, on the toy thing! That's hilarious. They have a totally different perspective, don't they?!

My 2 year old daughter must have a tooth extracted. MY children have a lot of allergies, including medications. For my oldest child, she had to have 4 teeth removed without anesthesia. This oral surgeon is recommending nitrous which sounds like a good idea. (I searched the archives.) But he is saying that I should not feed her anything the morning of the appointment - not even clear liquids! Does this make sense to you? I thought for general the fasting time was 4 hours and nitrous was less of a problem. Specifically, she is request breastfed at night and I understand that even if you aspirate breastmilk, that is OK. Any info on this?

I didn't inform them that she nurses through the night as they didn't ask. I also didn't ask how long she should have no fluids.

By the way, the tooth is all decay except for a coating of enamel on the front. It chipped and that's how we saw the extent of the decay. She has been under the care of a dentist since her first tooth erupted and seen them every 6 weeks.

Personally, it sounds like overkill. I'd nurse at night, but maybe try to leave an hour or two pre-appt with no breastmilk. If your babe vomits a lot after eating, you can judge, maybe longer is appropriate. BM digests quickly, and nitrous (even in illegally strong recreational doses) has never made anyone I've seen throw up...but they've all been adults. Just the standard pre-aneth. warning I'm guessing.

My son is nearly 3 and also has numerous allergies including medications. He's having his front tooth extracted on Wednesday and I am incredibly anxious about him having a reaction to lidocaine.

Rachael can you let me know how your older daughter went with just nitrous. Did she experience alot of pain when having her four teeth extracted? The oral surgeon is aware of my son's allergies but he assures me he's never seen a reaction in a child to lidocaine. Did your oral surgeon suggest that their is a risk in using lidocaine on an allergic child?

He also has to undergo numerous fillings and two crowns in the upcoming months and the dentist will want to use lidocaine at these appointments also.

We already have been discriminated against by a dentist because he has allergies (she would not continue to treat him because we mentioned he broke out in a rash on his chest the same day she tried nitrous on him). He was considered to much of a risk for their practice. Have you experienced this when trying to find a dentist for your children.

I didn't post clearly. My first child, Katherine, had her teeth extracted using novacaine, although maybe it was lidocaine. She did not have nitrous oxide. The nitrous is a new thing we intend to do with Laura, our second child, in addition to shots of novacaine.

Here's a couple of ideas for you:
-firstly, I've heard nothing about reactions to novacaine, lidocaine... I wonder if reactions to certain foods... could correlate with reactions to that drug family. If there was a correlation, as there is often with foods and plants, then that might free your mind up a bit - assuming the correlating substance was not allergic to your son.
- I would not recommend doing the procedure without one of the *caine drugs. It was really scary for KAtherine but the extraction process, with novacaine, seemed to be strong pulling and pressure as opposed to real pain. (The scary part is what we are hoping to minimize with the nitrous.)
- we are "playing oral surgeon". first with dolly, then on me, then on big sister, maybe then on little sister. we talk about our teeth; note the damaged tooth; count the patient's teeth; administer "happy gas" though a small, clear rubbermaid 1 cup container with a tube attached to it while making blowing sounds; we say "ahh fresh air, now I feel silly"; then with cup still on, we give shots in the mouth with the doctor kit syringe; we extract the tooth with a tiny toy; then we get a prize and say "yeah all done". that kind of game, modified for your son's unique experience, might help familiarize him with the parts that he can stay calm about.
- Katherine's procedure - 4 novacaine shots; 4 teeth broken; 4 teeth extracted - took 9 minutes. My husband timed them.
- they strongly discouraged me from nursing katherine after the extraction which turned out to be wrong. From what I understand now, nursing creates pressure on the wound which helps the body to stop bleeding. Perhaps SmileMomma can make sure I am correct on this.
- they also tried to talk to my husband alone to convince him to get me to wean KAtherine. Last months Mothering and this month's New Beginnings have articles that will help if this is an issue to you too. (interestingly, KAtherine's next cavity occured 1.5 years later during a 3 month period when I was pregnant for Laura and had no milk. It occurred on her molar.)

On another board, someone referenced a disturbing study about nitrous and it's affects on children. She mentioned this with regard to one time use in a dental extraction. The study was seen through a midwifery magazine. Has anyone heard anything about this? The study reportedly claimed permanent central nervous system damage occurring from one time use!

I had a tooth pulled when pregnant 4 years ago-it was sooo sore I had to take Tylenol # 3's for 1-2 days around the clock

I had a tooth pulled (what was left of it-from an old root canal)
on Monday-

NO SWELLING-only a twinge of pain!!!!(took 1/2 of a Tylenol # 3 at 11 at night on Monday & 1/2 of one at 3;30am-that is all!!!

I used the homeopathics -Arnica & Ledum pal. & Ignatia immediately after it was out-while still in the chair-
Then took Calendula tincture mixed with water to rinse( gently ) my mouth-every 20-30 minutes & put some on the gauze in my mouth also-
Then I bought Willow capsules & Ginger capsules -I took them alternating every 3 hours for 2 days(none at night)

Maybe the child was given straight nitrous oxide? That can be damaging. We usually mix it with oxygen; a common ratio is about 30% nitrous, 70% oxygen (which is more oxygen than there is in room air). Because of nerve damage problems and even deaths, most units now have a fail-safe valve that automatically cuts off the nitrous supply in case of decreasing oxygen.

Maybe this happened before the fail-safe system, or their mechanism failed? Sounds like a horrible accident, but nothing routine.

And maybe I can get some kind of goober prize for starting every paragraph with "maybe" ... :

Neat story: I extracted a tooth on a guy about a year ago, and recommended all of the above. He was so impressed by the results! Then just recently, he needed another extraction, this one much more difficult and involved. He said, "look what I remembered!" and pulled out his homeopathic bottles! He left a message on my machine the next day ... "just tell Dr. ~ she is the tooth goddess!" Never even took an Advil.

Ginger is a stronger anti-inflammatory than NSAIDS-nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs-
I took it for the first 2 days continuously then just 1 or 2 times a day for the next 3 or so.
Took it 1 time yesterday-along with a CoQ10 & vit C.

To Smilemomma or anyone alse who can help. My son is 27 months old and has a cavity in one of his upper molars. I've taken him to the dentist to fill the cavity and to put sealants in the rest of his molars. My problem is ds couldn't stand it after one sealant was done so we had to stop. We will have to use sedation.
We still have the cavity to do and the other three sealants. I want to know what the best(least painful,least stressful etc.) way to do the filling is? We will be useing white filling material not the silver murcury type. Is the white stuff safe? What is it exactly? Is nitrious oxide safe to do the filling? And finally is the sealant material safe? Any answers would be great. Thanks

Hi Nickysmom,
you're not the first mama with these problems! I'm not a dentist, but I've read so much here that I've pretty much acquired assistant status (smilemomma, I ain't going for a real job btw; I'm not very good at all with witnessing actual procedures and especially fear/distress ).

As far as I know, the white stuff is very safe. It's a resin, I think that's some kind of hard plastic. The sealants are essentially plastic, too. They all last a long time.

Smilemomma is a great proponent of nitrous oxide, because the dosage can be adjusted while administering it, so you only add more while it's necessary, and stop it then, which pretty much eliminates the risk of both over- and underdosage. My own dd had a tooth filled using Versed, an oral sedative, when she was 30 months old. It took the edge off, but she was definitely not quiet. Different kids react different to this stuff, and it's only administered once, so there's a luck factor there. Also, dd was helped on a front tooth, which is relatively non-invasive. If your dentist gives you the choice (mine wouldn't for kids under 3yo), I'd go for the nitrous.

In the archives on top of the topics page, there are sections for sedatives and fillings. You can probably find a lot of good info there. Good luck, calm vibes, and let us know how it goes!

My two year old ds fell a few months back and hit two teeth, chipped one, and about a month ago an abcess showed up. They put him on penicillin, which he refused to take, so they switched him to chewable amoxicillan (sp) which we got down alot easier. He has been off the antibiotic about a week and the abcess today is a yellow color, the other day red and another day it was yellow also. Is that normal, or should I call the dentist again? His surgery for extraction isn't sheduled until January 7. Also, I have read the following for homeopathic treatment before extraction - Arnica Montana 9C and Gelsemium sempervirens 9C - 3 each alternating 3 times a day starting the day before surgery. Is this correct for a two year old?
Oh and i also read to treat an abcess, mercurius solubilis 9C, 3 pellets 3 times a day. Should i try that? THANKS for all your info!!!

When my oldest was that age he had surgery, one thing that helped was the nurses removed the IV while he was still knocked out. If they wait till child is waking, the child can pull it out if they are panicky. I am still praying for your little one, please post again if you can and let us know how it went. Take care,
Mary

I will be taking my 2 1/2 year old son for one filling and three sealants in a couple of weeks. I'm wondering what is the best way to relax him so it's not so traumatic (on me and him). He went for one sealant in Nov. and I gave him lemon balm tea just before and after as well. I don't know if it helped. I want to look at herbs or homeopathy this time as there will be more work done. We are going to try Nitrious Oxide but I'm unsure if he'll tolorate the mask on his nose and the dentist digging in his mouth. Any suggestions?

sorry i have not replied sooner. Every time i think i am going to be able to sit and type something comes up - you know what i mean!!!
Everything went pretty smooth. We went in and i sat with ds on my lap while the doc talked about it all and said how the anesthesia was more risky than the tooth removal itself, which i knew, but it sounded so much worse when the doc says it. Then came the gas as i sat with ds on my lap until he fell asleep - that was soooo weird - i then had to leave and had to choke back the tears. They then came out about ten minutes later as i heared ds screaming and crying in recovery. He wasn't suppose to wake up until after i was there - anyway we left very shortly after and his is as happy as ever with a big gap in his mouth
gotta go ds very tired and crying thankyou all so much

We did a lot of role-playing with a small plastic bowl to fill in as the nitrous mask, and practiced "putting on the mask so the dentist can make your teeth feel better." Our dentist was great, she told us EXACTLY which order she would do things in so we could practice the entire thing ~ "and then you will hear a 'pop' when your tooth comes out" etc. The technical staff let ds' stuffed cat be masked also Camomile worked better for ds at that time than Rescue Remedy, but i think anything that he knew to be part of the relaxation routine we'd done would have worked just fine.

There's a ton of good ideas in the archives, i love this place, i need to get over here more often

Thank you so much for your posts and supportive messages to me and the other parents on this forum.

My ds, 2.5 yrs old had his pulpotomy and a lovely stainless steel crown put in this morning and it went PERFECTLY!!!

Although he didn't like the Versid drink and cried hard when the dentist had to administer it forcibly with the syringe, he popped right up into Dad's lap for a favorite new story as the drug took affect. He didn't struggle at all in his papoose and everything went very well.

I must say that reading all the archives, especially about breastmilk being a bodily fluid, gave me the support and power I needed to be strong for him, myself and my husband. I was able to sleep well the night before because of your words and the words of the others who posted here. It was HARD to say he hadn't had any food or drink when they looked me in the eye because I wanted to yell, "He nursed all night!" But I didn't feel I was lying either.

I am so glad we saw a second dentist because he listened to us and related to my son much better than the first one. And although we had one baby root canal instead of three fillings and sealants - like the first dentist wanted, we actually paid less because we didn't use G.A. which was twice as expensive. Ds was almost out anyway but the dentist and assistant spoke geently to him during the procedure when he moved or spoke.

As we were coming off the freeway back to our house, our ds asked where we were going now and when we said home, he said, " I want to go back to the dentist!"

Hey, but that's really cool! I was wondering how it would go; your ds's case somehow seemed a lot like me dd's last year. Only it seems the Versed got him much mellower

I'm so glad you got the other dentist... So,which tooth was it? Is he happy with his shiny new one? Has it bothered him afterward?

I'm so glad this is over for you all. And now you can start fresh, but with lots of knowledge you didn't have the first time around.

We had the same thing with the bm. the first time they sent us home because she'd bf'ed 2 hours before hte appt (but they made us pay the $75 for the dentist's time), the second time I'd looked around here and lied . Oh well...

Better keep ds away from the morphine jar, though... Sounds like he has talent for drugs :LOL :LOL